Adjustable fire guard and screen



(No Model.)

N. B. GIBSON.

ADJUSTABLE FIRE GUARD AND SGREEN.

No. 474,239. Patented May 3, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NAT. B. GIBSON, OF TI-IORPS SPRING, TEXAS.

ADJUSTABLE FIRE GUARD AND SCREEN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 474,239, dated May 3, 1892.

Application filed June 1, 1891. Serial No. 394,7 20%- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NAT. B. GIBSON, of Thorps Spring, in the county of Hood and State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Adjustable Fire Guards and Screens, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is ageneral perspective view of an open fireplace provided with my improved adjustable fire guard and screen. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail showing the shields moved upinto the receptacle at the top of the fireplace.

My invention relates to improvements in fire guards and screens; and its object is to provide a simple and efficient device which may be suspended in front of open fireplaces or grates for the purpose of preventing the frequent and sometimes fatal accidents which are directly due to the absence of reliable safe-guards.

The invention consists of aseries of shields or plates of suitable size and material, which are so connected that when not in use they may be easily drawn upward in succession side by side and compactly placed in an appropriate receptacle attached to the front of a mantel or to a wall above a fireplace.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, A designates a box or receptacle. The front may be in the form of a panel or decorated with carving or other appropriate ornamentation. The shields B are preferably made of light sheet metal, and, like the receptacle above them, may be adorned in a variety of ways. If itbe desired to allow free egress to the heat, some of the lower or all of the shields may be perforated and made to appear like net-work, scroll-work, or other attractive forms. The lowest shield of the series is provided with bolts or studs 0, which engage the slotted guides D. These guides have their lower ends suitably fastened to the hearth and their upper ends secured to the inner side of the back of the receptacle A.

The inner ends of the studs engage the slotted guides D and pass through the lip on the lower edge of the lowest shield. The outer ends of the studs are enlarged and form knobs or handles whereby the screen may be raised or lowered. The shields are also provided with vertical slots E, and are connected one to the other by flat-headed bolts F, which pass through the slots and have their outer ends riveted to the lower edges of the respective shields. Triggers G are pivoted on the studs 0 and engage any one of a series of holes in the slotted guides D. By this means the screen may be adjusted at any desired height or in such a position that theheat may radiate freely from the lower part of the fire or grate without impairing the protective character of the invention. It will also be manifest that during the warm season the screen is well adapted to serve as a summer front of afireplace.

What I claim as new is- 1. In a fire guard and screen, the combina tion, with a fireplace, of a series of adjustable shields constructed and arranged as herein described, each of said shields being provided with studs 0, the slotted guides in which the studs move, and means for retaining the shields at any height desired, and the receptacle adapted to receive and retain the shields, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

2. In combination with a fireplace provided with a receptacle A and guideways D, the shields B, each slotted at E and connected by bolts F, movable in said slots, thelower shield having bolts C, provided with triggers G to engage in the holes in the guideways, all as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, this 21st day of May, 1891, in the presence of witnesses.

NAT. B. GIBSON.

Witnesses:

D. E. DAVIDSON. C. H. RICHARDS. 

